Books Leia Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray

Why do you hate women? Lol.

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I'm new here, and it seems I'm a little late to the party, but I've just gotten around to reading the new Leia book by Claudia Gray (not her real name.) I posted this on my most recent fan fic, but I'm going to say it here too:
This is NOT Leia's backstory and never has been. Her backstory was created 40 years ago by George Lucas & Carrie Fisher, and I'd like to share it with you.

I'm thinking many of you may not have existed in 77 when SW came out. But I did. You have no idea how huge it all was. Every day, every week George and the 3 actors were constantly on every talk show, every late night show - Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore, The Tonight Show, etc... and they were on every magazine cover with in-depth articles. There were behind-the-scenes tv specials and, yes, I even saw that infamous SW Christmas Special (which was both every bit as cringe-worthy and awesome as you can imagine to this (then) little fangirl. This stuff was everywhere and I watched it and read it all because I, like the rest of you, fell in love with SW, and have loved it for 40 years (so far.)

I'm a pack-rat. I save stuff, and I've save all my SW stuff from the OT. I have before me all of my old magazines (People, PhotoPlay, StarLog, Rolling Stone, Time, among them) as well as my original paperback canon novels of the OT. I'm going to paraphrase:

Together, GL and his actors created the characters' personalities, their backstories, and their MO's. Luke's is obvious, but HF's Han Solo was abandoned at 5, grew up like Oliver Twist, was an officer in the Imperial Navy and was kicked out for saving Chewie's life (that's why there's a life-debt.) Han's a smart-mouthed, cynical loner, and HF said that no woman except Leia ever meant anything to Han. That's his well-known story, though what they will do in the new movie, I don't know.

As for Leia, GL and Carrie created her as the Ice Princess, so busy with her duties as Princess, secret Rebel agent, and Senator in the Imperial Galactic Senate (youngest at 17) that she's never taken the time or had the inclination for her own personal life. Why she so stoic and determined, she doesn't even have time for her own sorrows. Time and again in my mags (StarLog June 1983, for one), Carrie says that Han is Leia's first boyfriend, that he's her first relationship (remember, she's only a teenager when they meet in ANH.)

ROTJ canon states that "Han had never known love, so enamored of himself was he; Leia had never known love, so wrapped up in social upheaval was she, so intent on embracing all of humanity."

Before trying to give that quote poetic license, remember it was written that way because that's exactly how George & CF & HF created their specific stories for H & L - it's literally their foundation & the basis of their growth arcs - 2 emotionally isolated people had never known love due to their circumstances in life (altruistic Princess/self-serving Pirate), but despite their differences, they break down each other's defenses and finally find love for the first time. That idea isn't mine - it's actually the subject of many of the articles in my old mags (which is why I made my dad buy them.)

THAT's Leia's story, who she is and how she was made by George and Carrie back in 1976. This DSW CL book contradicts canon (yes, GL changed the dead mom thing in ROTJ, but she wasn't even a fully formed thought then, much less a character, unlike Leia whose whole story is the OT.)

Anyway, as an 'original fan' (sounds better than 'old') thought I'd share

 

So what did you think of Leia: Princess of Alderaan?



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...

OK.

But what did you think of the book?

 

You don't come out of the womb as an "Ice Princess"... there had to be a time where she learned of the Rebellion and decided to join it. There has to be at least a few people who tried to court her, that it just didn't work with, when she was princess.

I don't see how the book contradicts the backstory.

 

Yeah, there's such a thing as puppy love/teenage romance before your the love of your life. She had a puppy love romance with Kier, it didn't work out, he died (but they would have split up eventually due to their fundamental ideological differences), then she met Han and fell in love with him and was happily married to him for decades. I'm sure Han is going to get a love interest in the new movie out about him that doesn't work out. I'm also sure that neither Han or Leia would care an iota about the other's previous love lives because both of them are secure enough in the other's love for them that they know it's not threatened by what came before.

Personally, the "male love interest melts the Ice Queen" has always been a sexist trope I never liked. Either Han loves Leia the way she is or he doesn't. Same with the "the woman is too busy for a personal life because she's career motivated" because it falls into the sexist dichotomy that either a woman can be motivated and ambitious, or have a romantic/personal life which is sexist BS that you rarely hear about male characters. I actually love that Claudia gave Leia a relatively more normal adolescence where she got to hang out with friends her own age and have a romantic love interest her own age, since we know at 19 her entire life gets destroyed in front of her eyes, it's nice to know she got that bit of happiness beforehand.

 

Sure it is, Todd, IF THAT IS YOUR REAL NAME.

 

The Leia who was always too busy to have a personal life still sort of exists in this book. When she begins participating in the Pathfinder class, she thinks to herself how unusual it is to just interact with people her own age normally, and not in an official capacity as "the Princess". That workaholic characteristic is pretty much the same, it's just that she had *some* time to relax and a high school romance that ended tragically before she *fully* committed to the Rebellion. IIRC Claudia Gray* even said that this was a unique opportunity writing Leia at this age, since this is pretty much the only time she doesn't have the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders. As anakinfansince1983 said, teenagers date. I'm not going to begrudge her doing a normal teenage thing for once in her life before it becomes a constant deadly struggle with the fate of countless worlds hanging in the balance. Anyways I'm sure Han "dated" too.

I can understand being upset when they change part of the lore, but in comparison to some of the other retcons they've had over the years, 40+ year old half thought out character outlines given in magazines aren't exactly gospel. This is the same era were an early draft for a sequel to Star Wars had sexual tension between Luke and Leia. Also even before this book there were plenty of Legends stories where Han and Leia had previous relationships, so those magazines were already contradicted.

*Why does it even matter if it's "not her real name"? Lots of authors have psedonyms. Like the offhanded mention of your fanfic, I'm not sure why you brought it up.

 

Yeah, this seriously raises my eyebrows, especially considering that Gray also started out in fanfic, IIRC.

 

I just finished reading it and I loved every bit of it. Would be interesting to find out which Apprentice Legislators, particularly the guy from Coruscant, ended up siding with Leia and the Rebellion.

 

It turns out Claudia Gray is the alias of the notorious mass retconner Ursula Traviss!

Thought you could escape Loralei122, did you? Think again! She existed in 77 when SW came out, she knows how huge it was, and she saved her magazines. She knows the true backstory of Leia, allowing her to see that this new story is a clever fake!

The game is up, fiend. Any minute now George Lucas will sign in to the Jedi Council Forums and set the record straight.

 

"Ursula Traviss" sounds like a pretty badass name for a villainess. Countess Ursula Traviss.

 

I wasn’t around in 1977, but I do remember my impression of Leia as a child included her line to Han, “I happen to like nice men.” I always liked and related to that line because like Leia, I don’t like a-holes, but I do like men. I never saw Leia as an asexual “ice queen” until Han Solo taught her how to love. I always saw Leia as a woman that resisted Han because she didn’t see him as her type, ie, she had a type and made choices and did have relationships with men.

POA fits perfectly into how I always saw Leia. This relationship (and the events in the book overall) is exactly the kind of experience that I always imagined would lead to the woman we were first introduced to in ANH. Leia was worldly, confident and experienced. She wasn’t closed off or naive.

 

To be fair to Loralei, she prefers the old version, and I understand and sympathize with that. I was actually pretty sympathetic to her rant, I just thought it was hilarious at the same time.

But, as Jello said, things change. It sucks for Loralei this time.

 

I just find it funny how she created an account just to re-post a rant from her own fan fiction calling out a book for not sticking to the unused half complete backstory from when the first movie came out.

She didn't even say whether she liked the book.

 

I agree, it was a great first post.

 

Same here. I started out thinking "If Holdo is Luna Lovegood, that kid from Coruscant is Draco Malfoy", but after Leia helps him out (on Felucia IIRC) he seems more mellowed out. On the other end I totally thought the Ithorian kid was going to join Leia's group (cuz Ithoraians are cool that's why) but then he didn't.

Then there's the Jr. Senator from Glee Anselm, who's very Pro Imperial. He isn't described in much detail, so I was wondering if he was supposed to be a human, or a Nautolan like Kit Fitso.

 

Or Anselmi like how Darsana was supposed to be.

 

Huh, I had to look those up on Wookieepedia. I never realized there was *another* species on Glee Anselm besides the Nautolans.

 

This was a fantastic book. Claudia Gray's 2 Leia novels (plus Lost Stars) have been a bright spot on what has been a very disappointing series of new-EU novels.

 

Finished today, lovely book, Holdo is a interesting character, hope that in TLJ, she will appear well.